The former French justice minister whose name is on the [no perp walk] law, Elisabeth Guigou, said she found the photos of Mr. Strauss-Kahn in cuffs indicative of “a brutality, a violence, of an incredible cruelty, and I’m happy that we don’t have the same judiciary system.”

Ms. Guigou, a Socialist like Mr. Strauss-Kahn and a member of Parliament, told France Info radio that the American system “is an accusatory system,” while in France, “we have a system that takes perhaps a little more time but which is, despite everything, more protective of individual rights.”

Another commentator, Max Gallo, said this was the" first time in the history of France that a top-level official is treated like a common criminal whose guilt is already established." But he also noted that the American system is more egalitarian.